"I'm not going to be able to fill it to capacity." Xander told them. "How long do these things last anyway?"
"There were three of them when Atlantis was sunk 10,000 years ago." McKay answered. "There's only one left and it's nearly out. So, thousands of years. What are you doing? How are you doing it?"
"Heimdall, an Asgard, said it's a forgotten discipline on Earth. Humans used to practice it but than the Goa'uld came and pretended they were gods using Magic, even stole the names of our gods. You convinced yourself Magic was evil and then you convinced yourself it wasn't real. The Goa'uld, if they even exist in our reality, never came to our Earth and we never abandoned the discipline."
"Magic. You're going to pretend you're doing Magic?!" McKay scoffed. "You have no idea what you're actually doing, do you?"
"I don't think my communicator is Magic, Doctor McKay, I think it's a highly sophisticated computer system that can do far than any computer your Earth has created. The language of the Mystic Arts predates the written word, predates language as language was the last ingredient added to it. The first words haven't changed since the language was first begun, the words help shape the energy, give form and substance and new words have been added as language evolves. But words have far less influence on the energy than thoughts, beliefs, imagination, will, emotion, intent, even when you can't articulate it. But for the scientist we can explain it as psychokinetic metaphysic dark energy, dark as in currently unexplainable and unmeasurable by scientific methods, but knowable because of the effect it has on objects around it."
Xander turned to Colonel Sheppard. "Colonel, hold the crystal please."
"Sure, what do you want me to do?"
"When you connect to the technology, how does it feel to you? The physical sensation, the mental connect? Don't describe it, just feel it and once you do, extend yourself to the crystal, feel the energy. It's flavor, it's sensations, it's warmth or coolness, explore the feeling, become familiar with it, so that you can recognize it when it's somewhere else. Once you've managed that, reach out with your mind and find another source of it, match those feelings, those sensations and then draw it to you. It'll pass through you, direct it to the crystal. You don't need words to draw or channel the energy, words can help you shape or control it, but you're not doing either right now, you're identifying it and storing it for later use."
The crystal brightened again as more energy poured into it. "That's it, you do have the same kind of natural ease that Jack has." Xander said approvingly. He looked at Doctor McKay. "Samantha Carter told me that as much as maybe 70 percent of the energy and matter of the observable universe may currently be dark, as in scientifically unknown and unmeasurable. 70 percent of the universe and yet, you can observe the affect that dark energy and matter has on the universe, so you do know it's there, even if you can't see it, touch it, measure it. But the human mind has always been capable of more, from the very beginning. We impose our will on the universe and shape it for good and bad. Open your mind, Doctor and you'll begin to see that energy for yourself. Don't get caught on the words, because the words aren't the important part. Having control over your emotions, your impulses, being certain of your intent, guiding your imagination and being certain of your intentions, those are the important things."
"As well as how you use it." Amy added. "That's why intent and being certain of your intent is so important. Lightening is dangerous and yet we figured out how to create electricity ourselves. We channel it and shape it with our will and light up the dark night with it. But it can kill, accidentally and on purpose. A psychologist can heal a mind or further ravage it. A doctor can heal an injury or cause a worse one. A gun can save your life, but it does so by ending someone else's and you damn well better know that when you pull that trigger. And be able to live with it, with your choices and the consequences of those choices."
"Magic affects you, as well as where you aim it." Xander continued. "It changes you, it has to, we hold the energy in our bodies so our mind can shape it and our capacity, the amount we hold, grows as you exercise it, like a muscle. But there are also limits to what it can do, Magic used on a person's mind is a violation of that person at their core and always leaves scars. Most energies are bad for healing injuries or disease, the hand device the Goa'uld have, it uses energy to heal by speeding up the body's natural healing process. We have technology that can do that too, but that's energy guided by a machine intelligence that can map and control a thousand variables that the human mind just isn't capable of."
"I think I've done all I can for now." Colonel Sheppard handed the crystal back to Xander. "I'm feeling really tired, is that normal?"
"Why do you think Ms. Calendar was so tired?" Xander accepted the crystal back. "It takes energy to digest food, but food is transformed into energy that runs our bodies. It takes mental energy to draw and channel energy and mental energy is fed by physical energy. In time you'll be able to do more, but that was a great start." He congratulated the Colonel. "I wonder what name these Ancients used to label what we call Magic and scientists call psychokinetic metaphysic dark energy? It's something all humans have in common, the need to name things. We do love words." He finished philosophically.